94 Chapter 4 Mood. Adolescents reported a better mood in response to direct versus averted gaze videos (B = -0.16, SE = 0.04, t(880) = -4.21, p <.001, d = 0.27, Figure 4.2-A left panel). In addition, adolescents’ mood was dependent on the target in the videos (χ2(3) = 42.77, p <.001). Bonferroni corrected post-hoc analyses revealed that they reported a better mood after videos of their parent versus an unfamiliar peer (p <.001, d = 0.47), unfamiliar adult (p <.001, d = 0.56), or themselves (p <.001, d = 0.40). Adolescents did not significantly differ in their mood after videos of an unfamiliar peer, unfamiliar adult, and themselves (all ≥ p = .597). There was no significant interaction between gaze direction and target on adolescents’ self-reported mood (p = .204). Connectedness. Adolescents reported enhanced feelings of connectedness in response to direct versus averted gaze videos (B = -0.55, SE = 0.08, t(640) = -6.72, p <.001, d = 0.51, Figure 4.2-B left panel). In addition, adolescents’ feelings of connectedness were dependent on the target in the videos (χ2(2) = 1406.24, p <.001), with adolescents feeling more connected with their parent versus an unfamiliar peer (p <.001, d = 2.95) or adult (p <.001, d = 3.06), but they did not differ in how connected they felt with an unfamiliar peer versus adult (p = .665, all Bonferroni corrected). There was no significant interaction between gaze direction and target on adolescents’ feelings of connectedness with others (p = .940). To test whether prolonged eye contact boosted adolescents’ mood and feelings of connectedness relative to baseline, we examined adolescents’ self-reported affect in response to static pictures with direct gaze prior to the task with their averaged ratings after prolonged direct gaze videos of the targets during the task. These analyses indicated significant interactions between target and time point (i.e., pre-task versus task) on adolescents mood (χ2(3) = 10.31, p = .016) and feelings of connectedness (χ2(2) = 70.50, p <.001). Adolescents did not report a mood-boosting effect in response to prolonged videos of others (versus static pictures), but reported a lower mood after being confronted with a prolonged video of their own direct gaze. In addition, adolescents reported enhanced feelings of connectedness in response to prolonged eye contact (versus static pictures), which was most pronounced in response to direct gaze videos of unfamiliar others compared to their parent (Supplement S4.6). Responses to the question “How do you feel about this person at this moment?” were highly correlated with adolescents’ feelings of connectedness (r = 0.72, p <.001) and showed similar effects (see Supplement S4.7).
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